Dede Ayew named for CAF Best Player Award

West Ham United record signing Andre Ayew is the only Ghanaian to be named in CAF’s preliminary 30-man list for the 2016 African Player of the Year.

The Black Stars deputy captain will be seeking to win it for the first after missing on the last edition in Lagos when he finished third behind winner Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang and Yaya Toure.

He finished his debut season at Swansea City as the club’s top scorer.

But he faces stiff competition from English Premier League title-winner Riyad Mahrez who named PFA Player of the Year with 17 goals and 11 assists in 34 league games.

Also included in the list are Manchester United’s Eric Bailly, Sadio Mane of Liverpool and Manchester City kid Kelechi Iheanacho.

Five players based on the continent Keegan Dolly (South Africa & Mamelodi Sundowns), Itumeleng Khune (South Africa & Kaizer Chiefs), Dennis Onyango (Mamelodi Sundowns & Uganda ), Khama Billiat (Mamelodi Sundowns & Zimbabwe) and William Jebor (Liberia & Wydad Athletic Club),

Nominees for African Player of the Year:

Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Leicester City), El Arabi Hillel Soudani (Algeria & Dinamo Zagreb, Islam Slimani (Algeria & Leicester City), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon & Antalyaspor), Benjamin Mounkandjo (Cameroon & Lorient), Serge Aurier (Cote d’Ivoire & PSG)

Eric Bailly (Cote d’Ivoire & Manchester City), Yao Kouasi Gervais ‘Gervinho’ (Cote d’Ivoire & Hebei Fortune)Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Roma), Mohamed El Neny (Egypt & Arsenal), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & Dortmund)

Andre Ayew (Ghana & West Ham), Victor Wanyama (Kenya & Tottenham), William Jebor (Liberia & Wydad Athletic Club), Mehdi Benatia (Morocco & Juventus), Hakim Ziyech (Morocco & Ajax), John Mikel Obi (Nigeria & Chelsea), Kelechi Iheanacho (Nigeria & Manchester City)

Ahmed Musa (Nigeria & Leicester City), Cedric Bakambu (DR Congo & Villareal), Yannick Bolasie (DR Congo & Everton), Sadio Mane (Senegal & Liverpool), Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal & Napoli), Keegan Dolly (South Africa & Mamelodi Sundowns)

Itumeleng Khune (South Africa & Kaizer Chiefs), Mbwana Samatta (Tanzania & Genk), Aymen Abdennour (Valencia &Tunisia), Wahbi Khazri (Tunisia & Sunderland), Dennis Onyango (Mamelodi Sundowns & Uganda ), Khama Billiat (Mamelodi Sundowns & Zimbabwe).

Source: ghanasoccernet.com

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ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson

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An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.

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